Islamist protesters shout anti-Israel slogans during demonstration in Amman
Islamist protesters shout anti-Israel slogans during demonstration in AmmanReuters

Hundreds of Jordanians on Friday joined a rally organized by the Muslim Brotherhood to denounce Israeli plans to enshrine in law the country's status as the national Jewish homeland.

An estimated 1,500 protesters set off from the Husseini mosque in downtown Amman holding up signs saying "Al-Aqsa is in danger", according to AFP.

"There is a greater danger today, and that is the Jewish state draft law," Hamzeh Mansur, the former head of the Brotherhood's Islamic Action Front party, told the protesters.

"Where is Jordan's custodianship over Jerusalem and where is the promised Palestinian state?" he asked.

The protest comes amid tensions between Israel and Jordan in recent weeks, mostly around the Temple Mount, over which the Jordanian Waqf has control which it uses to restrict Jewish prayer and build illegal structures on the compound.

Jordan recently withdrew its ambassador from Israel, after violent Arab riots on the Temple Mount which it blamed on the Jewish state. There have also been calls by the Islamist dominated parliament to cancel the treaty with Israel in response to the tension on the Temple Mount. Jordan’s Prime Minister has rejected those calls.

Jordan has accused Israel of planning to change the status quo at the Temple Mount so it is not discriminatory against Jews. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, however, recently declared his intention to maintain the status quo at the site, emphasizing that Jews would continue to be allowed to visit, but a ban on praying would remain.

The Jewish State law, which was the subject of Friday’s protest, seeks to enshrine in law Israel’s being a Jewish state.

A Knesset vote on the bill has been postponed due to vehement opposition to it among coalition members, mostly by Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who has been a vocal opponent of the proposed law.

The law has also been condemned by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which said this week that it “is a racist political decision that is built to negate the Palestinian rights and to control the land, and it contradicts international law...and the law institutionalizes racism and discrimination in all fields of life, by implementing (Prime Minister Binyamin) Netanyahu's plan to turn Israel into a country based on racism by law."

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)